08 November,2018 07:33 PM IST | Mumbai | Suraj Ojha
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The Mumbai Crime Branch has found the phone numbers and addresses of hundreds of important persons across India, in a laptop seized from three accused arrested recently. The information was found during the investigation in the case of the hacking of Congress MP Husain Dalwai's email id. It is being said that the arrest of the three accused prevented them from cheating more people. In the last week of October, the Cyber Cell had arrested three persons of African origin in the matter from Delhi. The arrested accused were identified as Konate Mohamed, 31, of Ivory Coast, Okpeaifoh Michael, 31, of Nigeria and Outtara N Golhaud, 32, also of Ivory Coast.
Okpeaifoh Michael from Nigeria, Konate Mohamed, Outtara N Golhaud, both from Ivory Coast
Police arrest accused
According to the police the FIR was filed on October 13 by Dalwai's secretary Rajesh Panchal, stating that someone had hacked into his (Dalwai's) email ID and sent emails claiming he was facing a financial crisis and asked them to send him money. The police traced the IP addresses and the bank accounts where the money was sent, and found that the accused were operating from Delhi.
Husain Dalwai's hacked account
After arresting the accused, the police also seized R70,000, which Dalwai's friends had transferred to an account given by the accused. After the arrest police seized the laptop and mobile phones of the accused. They found contact details of hundreds of influential people in the laptop, who may have been their target in future.
Of the 12 files they found in the laptop, in the first file, 'MAMA,' they found the contact details of people belonging to Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Delhi. In the second file '7777###,' there were contact details of people belonging to Orissa. They also found a letter saying 'Land Rover Range Rover promotion. Diplomat Mr Philip Morris, your cash prize of R4 crore, registration charge fees of R24,800 of Indian cost and duty fee@@@.' They are trying to find if the accused have cheated people on the pretext of getting luxury cars. In the third file, 'OPOPOP,' police found a note which said 'Your R4 crore and Range Rover car will arrive in India tomorrow. Please check your email and send a copy of any ID proof.'
Data of important persons
In another file, the police found Dalwai's details like his phone number and address. They also found details of other prominent people belonging to Delhi. In other files police found details of people from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Chennai, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. The police also found a Land Rover Range Rover winning certificate, a fake British passport, fake documents of the Indian Custom services, fake government papers and documents related to Delhi Customs. They found that the visas of Konate and Outtara had expired and they were staying in India illegally.
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